The Outdoors Journal
Field-tested guides and trail stories.
Trip reports, gear reviews, and how-tos from the Outdoors team. Plan smarter, explore further.
Subscribe via RSS
Featured story
Mount Bierstadt: The Front Range entry-level 14er, and how to climb it right the first time
Y'all, Bierstadt is the easiest 14er in the Front Range — a 7-mile round trip from Guanella Pass with about 2,850 feet of gain. Named for the painter whose canvases shaped how a generation of East Coasters imagined the West.
Mount Blue Sky: The renamed 14er with the highest paved road in North America
In September 2023 the federal naming board flipped Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky — restoring a Cheyenne and Arapaho-honoring name to a peak that had carried the name of a governor tied to the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre. Y'all, this one's a story.
Torreys Peak: The classic 14er double partner — and Kelso Ridge if you want a real day
Torreys is named for John Torrey, the mentor to Asa Gray. Fifty feet shorter than its twin and a saddle traverse away. The Kelso Ridge knife-edge is many a Colorado climber's first taste of exposed ridge scrambling.
Grays and Torreys: The classic 14er double, and the easiest two-fer in Colorado
Grays Peak is the highest point on the Continental Divide in the country. Torreys is fifty feet shorter and a saddle traverse away. Y'all, this is the 14er double everybody starts with — and the most weather-exposed two summits on this list.
Quandary Peak: The most-climbed 14er in Colorado, and yes, you need a reservation
Y'all, Quandary is the busiest 14er trailhead in the state — so busy that Summit County had to put a paid parking system on it. Short, gentle, ninety minutes from Denver, and worth the traffic.
Longs Peak: The Keyhole Route and the most serious "standard" 14er in Colorado
Longs Peak is 14,259 feet of attitude in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Keyhole Route is the standard line, and it has killed more people than any other standard route on any Colorado 14er. Y'all do not show up here casual.
Pikes Peak: The 14er that inspired "America the Beautiful"
You can climb it, drive it, ride it, or race it. Pikes Peak is the most-visited 14er on the planet and the only mountain in this country with a song to its name.
Mount Harvard: A 14-mile day through the prettiest basin in the Sawatch
Third-highest in Colorado and the crown of the Collegiate Peaks. Horn Fork Basin makes the approach feel less like a 14er climb and more like a wilderness traverse — fourteen miles round-trip, and y'all are gonna remember every one.
Mount Massive: The longest 14er ridgeline in Colorado
Mount Massive does what its name says. Three miles of broken alpine ridge, five summits above 14,000 ft, and a 14-mile day that earns every step.
Mount Elbert: How to climb the highest peak in the Rockies
Mount Elbert tops out at 14,440 feet — highest in Colorado, highest in the entire Rocky Mountain chain. The standard route is a walk-up. The mountain is not. Here's the actual playbook.
Planning your first multi-day backpacking trip
A field-tested framework for picking your route, packing smart, and arriving at camp before dark — even on your first trip.
How to choose the right trail difficulty
Easy, moderate, hard, expert — the labels feel intuitive but hide important context. Here is how to read between them.